Are drakes aggressive??

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I have definitely heard stories about aggressive drakes, they seem to be a lot more rare than aggressive roosters though. Ducks are usually more skittish than chickens and are rarely bold enough to attack a human. The main thing to worry about with drake aggression is aggression towards other birds, mallard derived drakes do not work well with chickens, when matting season comes they will violently rape chicken hens. During other times of the year they do fine with each other. I do have one drake who does well with the chickens year round but he is 7 years old and not very active. That drake was originally given to me by a neighbor because he would not stop ripping up her hens, he even killed one.
Edit: he should be fine with 5 duck hens though, as long as you keep him away from other poultry during the breeding season.
 
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Well what type of hens? A buff drake will not cause any harm to 5 duck hens. I have mainly noticed problems with drakes and chickens, they seem to do alright around larger poultry like turkeys. When the mating season comes the drake's body is pumped full of hormones and they become disgusting sex machines. I have seen them grab chicken hens by the neck, pull on their combs, and rip off their feathers if a rooster mounts the hen near the drake. I have also had drakes corner chicken hens and rape them, they get covered in mud, they lose tons of feathers, and are covered in scratches from the drake's nails. Because of this I can't even let the my drakes free range with the chickens during the breeding season.
Again, your drake will be fine if kept with duck hens, the hens will be fine too. The drakes usually do very well with chickens after the breeding season too. Around here the breeding season usually starts around March, that is when the hens start pumping out eggs and the drakes start to become violent with other poultry. It usually lasts till June or July.
Do you have chickens in the same area you are planning to keep the ducks?
 
Muscovy drakes are way less crazy in my experience. I have only had one Muscovy be aggressive with chickens like a mallard derived drake is and that is because he was raised as a single child by a chicken and he thinks he is a chicken. I have seen drake Muscovies get into fights with roosters but after the drake gives the rooster a butt kicking the conflicts usually end. I have also seen Muscovy hens get into chicken fights but the same thing will happen...

I do have a buff duck drake that was hatched around April 14th, he has matured now and is a lot more calm with my duck hens than the other 3 hybrids that were hatched around that time. But I will not know how he will truly act until next March. It is really sad seeing your favorite drake turn into a monster during the mating season. The other 3 are already monsters, they bully the duck hens and beat up my old drake, they are all going into the freezer soon.
 
I've been doing a lot of research about this, because I have a drake who's going to be an adult next breeding season (spring). People say they do tend to chill out after the first couple of seasons, so that's something to hopefully look forward to. :fl

I've also heard good things about melatonin supplements, and it seems to be safe to give to hens also (some studies show it helps with egg production).
 

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